You Need to Read These

I’ve read so many good books during the month of May while participating in Middle Grade May. There are too many for me to review, but I do want to highlight a few of them because I really enjoyed the story and think most everyone should pick them up and give them a try.

The first one is Tuck Everlasting.

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Tuck Everlasting is about a ten year old girl named Winnie who stumbles upon a young man who is hiding a secret. She spies him drinking from a hidden water source and when she asks him for a drink, she discovers his secret. In order to make her understand the complexity of such a secret, his family kidnaps her and takes her to their farm where they explain in more detail the story surrounding their secret. Once they share their story, Winnie has to decide whether she’ll keep their secret.

Boy, this was a great book and I was enthralled throughout all of it. It’s not a very long book, but I think that was part of what made this book so good. Everything shared was vital to the story – there wasn’t any fluff taking up pages within this book. What you read lead you through the story. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes to read because the story makes you think and will keep you thinking about it long after you have finished it.

The next book I absolutely loved was The Book Jumper.

The Book Jumper is about a teenage girl who discovers her family has the ability to jump into books and can interact with the characters within. She soon discovers this gift is more than just for fun; her family must also secure the story’s integrity. It seems an easy task until she realizes there is someone stealing ideas out of stories which interrupts the story’s timeline or halts the story altogether. In order to put things right in the book world, she must find the thief and confiscate all the stolen ideas but can she put the pieces together before it is too late?

My short synopsis doesn’t do justice to what this book is about. There are more layers than the one I presented, but I don’t want to give away any of the good parts you’ll discover as you read the story. I couldn’t put this book down because it was so good and I liked all the characters presented in the tale. The book world was mega-interesting too which was a huge plus since it was a major focus of the story. The mystery was well done as well and it was fun trying to piece the clues together. It kept me guessing throughout most of the book and I think that was part of the fun too.

This book is another one I would suggest you read if you love mystery or fantasy. This is a well written book and I think it’s worth the read even if you aren’t a big fan of fantasy since there is so much to the story, I’m sure you’ll get something from it.

And the last book I’d like to share with you in this post is The Folk Keeper.

The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley

Wow, this was another short book that packed a punch! The Folk Keeper is about a girl, Corinna, who has decided to become a Folk Keeper so she doesn’t have to do manual labor in the orphanage she lives in. As a Folk Keeper, her job is to keep the Folk content so they don’t perform mischievous acts upon the household. But in order to do this, she has to present herself as a boy named Corin, for only boys can be Folk Keepers. Corinna is content with her current situation as Folk Keeper, so when an old man comes looking for her and who wants to bring her back to his estate to raise her as a gentleman, she isn’t too interested unless she can keep her current title as Folk Keeper. Thus her adventure begins and Corinna soon finds out that there is more to this act of kindness given to her than she could have imagined.

I found this book on Paperback Swap where I read their synopsis and thought it sounded like a fun light-hearted story. However, this book was not at all what I thought it would be. There was so much more to the story than what I had first anticipated. I expected to read about a boy (well a girl who was pretending to be a boy) who had to deal with a secret little town of folk people – uh, no – that was not what this book was about.

First of all, the Folk are not little people or even human. They are disruptive and dangerous and have to be given food or sacrifices to keep them content. So I soon discovered this book was not about our world and a hidden world within, but this was a whole new world with new creatures and new rules. It was fun learning about the history of this world; its holidays, creatures, and superstitions. The writer wrote a well-developed world and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading about it.

Then there was Corinna. I really liked her. She was interesting, complicated, and I liked reading the book through her perspective. She shared her thoughts and experiences by writing in her Folk Journal, which is also the format of the book.

Although it was a short book, I liked it and would recommend The Folk Keeper to readers who are 9 and over. I don’t want to narrow this book down to a specific group, because I think lots of people can enjoy this tale. It was beautifully written and it will keep you reading until the end. Which brings me to the ending – don’t worry, I won’t spoil you. I just want to say I was a little disappointed in the ending. Not enough that it hindered my enjoyment of the story, but I thought the ending was pretty abrupt and I would have liked a little bit more information about what was to come (is that cryptic enough, LOL).

So…those are the books I just had to share with you and recommend you read.

If you’ve read any of these, what are your thoughts? Were you as satisfied with them as I was? Please share in the comment section below. I’d love to hear if you have read these and what you thought of them.

2 responses to “You Need to Read These”

It wasn’t what I expected but I was really surprised at how much I liked The Folk Keeper – so good! The Book Jumper was very interesting and I liked how the characters interacted with the book world. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Hello and thank you for visiting my blog.

I am glad you found my blog and hope you enjoy the stories and reviews I have posted here. Please feel free to leave a comment about a specific poem, story, or review as they are always welcomed. Your opinion matters and your feedback is appreciated.

Thanks again for stopping by and I hope you come back again to read more of the stories I've written. Better yet, don't forget to subscribe and be the first to read what is posted here.

Subscribe to Updates

Subscribe to my blog to receive the latest entries. You don't want to miss new stories, poems, and book reviews.

Join 448 other followers

My Favorite Blogs:

My Sister's Blog: Training6Hearts4Him
If you homeschool or have children, then you will enjoy reading Linda's stories about life as a homeschooling Mom.

My Sister's Blog: Cynce's Place
My sister Cynthia not only homeschools, but she also creates great resources to teach her kids too! To find out more about her teaching method, check out her blog!